Tomato Leaves
Did you know that there are two types of tomato leaves? There are Regular leaf (RL) tomatoes and there are Potato leaf (PL) tomatoes.
This picture above is one of my Japanese Black Trifele tomato seedlings, and you can see here quite clearly that it is not like other tomato plants. A little research on the internet shows that there are many hundreds of tomato varieties which have potato leaves. Big Boy and Brandywine are two with which I am familiar. There are lots more out there.
In comparison this is a regular leaf seedling. Some research has shown that the potato leaf (PL) varieties are slightly darker and thicker than the RL varieties and this is thought that it might make them more tolerant to disease. Interesting. I'll come back to this subject when more leaves have developed. Lovely bright, hot sunshine in London recently and these tomato seedlings have been spending their days outside, hardening off.
posted by Matron @ 8:11 PM
15 Comments:
Thanks for the lesson, there is so much to learn about plants..that's another fact under the hat :o)
I had no idea! Thanks for that. Its something else l can impress my friends with when they come to look at my greenhouse! Hot as hell here in Brittany too but we did have a shower last night that lasted all of 10 mins and by the morning there was hardly any evidence of it. Warnings are going out already about water restrictions. Really warm out there tonight after doing a slug patrol. It could be one of those years.
Interesting, Matron. But I'm baffled. The regular leaves look like potatoe leaves (not surprising as they are members of the same family) but the potato leaf leaves look to me like ordinary leaf shapes!
p.s. Edinburgh has been shrouded in sea mist for most of the past week. But it'ds very dry,
Hi matron, that is interesting as I knew tomatoes could get blight the same as potatoes but not some having the same foliage. I must keep on eye on mine as they grow.Have a lovely Easter, I hope you have time off?!
Hi Matron
I have found the larger leaves of the "potato leaf" tomatoes provide more shade from our hot summer sun over her in Australia. That is a real bonus for protecting the fruit from "sunburn".
Great to hear you are having some sunshine over there.
Good luck with this season's tomatoes! I have been harvesting cherries, plums and costoluto.
I noticed that too - the potato leaved varieyies always seem to be stronger looking seedlings
Oh, this is new to me... thanks for the info!
Matron I'm learning new things from you all the time. Did not know about potato leaf tomatoes! Will be interested in knowing what you discover about their resistance to disease! Happy Saturday to you and Leo!
I'm growing Yellow Russian this year from the Heritage Seed Library and they have potato leaves. In fact there are 3 potatoes growing in a big tub alongside them in the greenhouse and they are amazingly similar!
Interesting... tomato is always RL is my garden.
Well I never knew that! I was thinking about trying Brandywine next year. Will be interesting to see if they are more disease resistant. Lovely looking plants...
They look so different don't they ? I am growing 'Outdoor Girl' this year which is a PL variety. Interested to hear that they might be more resistant to disease.
Those PL varieties will cross on you as well. They have a longer stigma so they can self pollinate or cross pollinate.
I'd forgotten all about them! I used to use them to teach genetics to undergrads at uni.... Feels like an age ago now! Thanks for the trip down memory lane :-) Mel xx
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